Jerome Wetzel is the Chief Television Critic for Seat42F and a regular contributing reviewer on Blogcritics. He also appears on The Good, The Bad, and the Geeky podcast and Let's Talk TV With Barbara Barnett.

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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

KILLER WOMEN Typical Genre Series

ABC’s new series, KILLER WOMEN, adapted
from an Argentina drama, follows Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer, Battlestar
Galactica), the daughter of a sheriff who has managed to make it as a
Texas Ranger, despite the organization being male-dominated. She’s tough
as nails, having survived a horrible marriage to a senator (Jeffrey
Nordling, Body of Proof), but still has sympathy for her fellow women,
and relaxes while playing the trumpet.

If that sounds like a perfectly crafted television character, you’d
be right. She’s a bit too perfectly crafted, to be honest, verging on a
stereotype. While it’s true that most law enforcement procedurals star
men, Molly is exactly what we’d expect a girl to be in this situation.
Tough, but vulnerable, fair and dedicated to justice.

Which makes her a bit boring. It’s
likely a good vehicle for Helfer, because she plays the part to a tee,
but the show itself cannot be sustained in an interesting way on this
character’s shoulders. She’s too pure and easy to root for, without the
unexpected layers and unpredictability that would make her a fascinating
study. Basically, Molly is bland.

Those in her life don’t do her many
favors in that regard, either. Molly has been living with her brother,
Billy (Michael Trucco, Battlestar Galactica), his wife, Becca (Marta
Milans, Valientes), and their daughter, Lulu (Siena Agudong, Second
Chances). They are plain old, what-you-see-is-what-you-get ranchers. The
only scene involving them that made any impact being the brief one in
which Molly gets mad at her sibling for talking to her niece about the
divorce.

Molly also has a love interest in fellow
law enforcement officer Dan Winston (Marc Blucas, Necessary Roughness),
but like her, Dan lacks edge. Sure, they step over the line together,
but only in the noblest of causes, and it all works out. They also lack
the heated chemistry that most viewers will be looking for, seeming far
too tame a pair, unsurprising for Blucas, but disappointing all the
same.

In the “Pilot,” a woman (Nadine
Velazquez, My Name Is Earl) shots a bride at her wedding point blank. It
takes only a little bit of the episode’s running time to catch her, but
that isn’t the end of the story. While the regular cops want to put the
case to bed, Molly takes it upon herself to not only see something else
going on, but to pursue it without support. Which, no surprise, leads
to a happy ending.

I believe this plot is meant to
illustrate exactly who Molly will be. Everything from the initial car
chase, an action-packed scene in which Molly is somehow the only one who
can stop the vehicle, to a touching moment behind bars, shows us what
Molly is like, how she will stand up for her ideals, and how her
colleagues will seek to stand in her way.

Again, this is pretty basic crime drama
stuff. Molly’s experience is nothing new, woman or not, as many a cop
faces the exact same circumstances. The fact that she is a girl is not
nearly fresh enough to save the series itself.

What’s more, KILLER WOMAN will very
clearly be a case-of-the-week program. I understand that there are a
number of such shows that get high ratings, and perhaps that’s why
networks keep making more and more of them. At the same time, it’s
frustrating when a cookie cutter is used over and over again, rather
than straying from the worn path to deliver something fresh and new.
Since this show doesn’t have anything unique to offer, it will not be
added to my TiVo’s Season Pass list. I’ll probably never watch it again.

As far as the genre goes, KILLER WOMAN
is a decent effort. But the genre is bloated and tired. It’s time to put
it to the rest. KILLER WOMEN premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.